Gearing for motor-vehicles.



S. S. BENNETT.

GEARING FOR MOTOPu VEHICLES.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 23, 1909 Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

s. s. BENNETT. nmn'me FOR MOTOR VEEIGLES.

APYLIUATION FILED JUNE 23, 1909 Patented Jan. 9, 1912' 2 SHEETS-SHBBT 2.

i ii

changing t STEPHEN S. BENNETT, F CHIUAGU, ILLINOIS.

GEARING FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

,Spccifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9,1912,

Application filed Il'une 23, 1508. Serial No. 503,809.

all whom may concern: M lniown that ii, STEPHEN S. BENNETT, g Chicago,in the county of-{Cook o State of Illinois, havefinvei'itedcertain iewuseful Improvements 'in.. Gearing If ehieles and Means for Operatiiorhint-o the 5 no, of which the following is a n relates to improvementsin. mechanism, and. differential actor vehicles, such as automd andconsists in certain peculiarities e'conszruction, arrangement, andoperahe various parts thereof, as Will be her more. fully set forth andspecifi y claimed;

principal. object of the invention is to ide simple and. efiieient meansfor speed of thevehicle, well as allow traction wheels on the rear axlethe vehicle to turn at different speeds necessary when the vehicle turnsa curve.

Another object oi. the invention-is to provide a mechanism employingpositive clutch engaged-gearing and of such construction that with onelever, anyone of a series of gears 1..ay he quickly and positivelyengaged, and that while so en 'aged, all the other clutch-faces will bepositively held dis engaged.

@ther objects of the invention will be d.s..rihed in the sub-joineddescription and explanation. v

in order to enable others skilled in the art to which the inventionpertains, to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe it,referring to the accompanying drawings, on which- Figure l, is a planview partly in section, and partly in elevation of: the frame of a motorvehicle, such as an automobile, showing m improvements mounted thereon,and the thereof in their inoperative or neutral posi ns. Fig. 2, is aperspective ViBW of a POI'tlOll of the frame of the vehicle showing apart of the niecluinisiu for operatin, the clutches which or age thespeed changing gears. Fig. 3, is n enlarged plan view of the casingwhich incloses the speed-diam ing' or power transmitting g ars, thelatter being shown in elevation. i, is View partly in section, andpartly n elevation taken on the lines l, 4, of Figs. and 3, inching inthe direction indicated hy tie arrows. Fig. 5, is a greatly on pro vlarge-d plan sectional view of a part of the rear axle of the vehicle,and a portion of -thegearing thereon, showing the differential gearsarranged wit-hm a casing around said axle. Fig. 6, is a cross-sectionalview taken on lincsfi, 6, of Fig. 5, looking in the direction indicatedhy the arrows. F 7, is a plan View of the gate or guide for theoperating lever of the speed-changing mechanism. And Fig. 8, is anenlarged cross sectional View ote portion. of the ti'aine of thevehicle, showing the manner of niouht 'tions of the rear axle 15, aretransversely jourimled. lllounted on the rear axle, at about its middle,are 19, 20, 21, and 22, which are of different sizes as is clearly shownin Figs. 1, and 3, of the drawings,

and are united together by means of a hulo-' like casing 23, whichinc'loses the dilierential gears arranged between the gears 20, and 21,as shown in Fig. 5, of the drawings.

Mounted on the rear axle 15, and surrounding the above named gears is acasing 24k, which is extended forwardly of the axle 15, and hast'ansversely journaled thereon, in front of the axle an auxiliary shaft25, on. which a series of gears 26, 27,

28, and 29, are inminted so as to mesh respectively with the are 19,20,,21,'and 22, on the rear axle. The gears 26, and 27, are eachprovided on their adjacent surfaces with a clutch-taco 30, and the gears28, and 29, are each provided on their adjacent surfaces with a similarclutclrfaceBO, to enigagc clutches 31, slidahly mounted on the shaft25,, so that they may be thrown into engagement with theclutch fac'es ofthe said gears.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 3, of the drawings,-each oi the clutch-faces30, is provided with a series of diagonally disposed recesses 32, to.receive diagonally disposed teeth 33, on the surfaces of each of theclutches 31, each of which clutches is provided with a circumferentialgroove 34, to

gage and assist in operating the clutches as will be presentlyexplained.

Mounted on the shaft 25, between the gears 27 and 28, is a beveled gear37, which meshes with the beveled gear 38, mounted on the inner end ofthe driving shaft 39, which is journaled at its rear portion in thefront part of the casing 24, and is extended forwardly andlongitudinally of the vehicle frame, and may be connected atits frontportion by any suitable means to a motor or engine, not shown.

Secured to each of the sides '16, and 17, of the vehicle frame is abracket 40, each of which is provided with upper and lower socketedextensions 41, and 42, respectively which extensions are horizontallyand in wardly projected as shown in Figs. 1, and 2, of the drawings.Located at its ends in the sockets of the extensions 41, so as to havelongitudinal and rotary movement therein, is a shaft 43, and located atits ends in the sockets of the extensions 42, so that it may have rotarymovement is another shaft 44, which, as well as the shaft 43, is

extended across the frame of the vehicle in front, and slightly abovethe casing 24, of the gearing. Rigidly secured to the shaft 43, near oneof its ends is a crank 45, which has connected to its upper portion arod 46, which is extended forwardly, and connected at its front end toone arm of a bell-cranklever 47, which is suitably fulcrumed on thefront part of the vehicle frame, and usually below a cross-piece 48,thereof. Connected at one'of its ends to the other arm of thebell-crank-lever-47, is a rod 49,

the other end of which is extended through an opening in the side 17, ofthe vehicle frame, and is connected to the lower portion of theoperating lever 50, which is fulcrumed .and movably mounted on a rod 51,secured to the side 17, near its front end.

As shown in Fig;,8, the lower portion of the lever 50, is pressed by aspring 52, which may engage a recess formed in the lower portion of saidlever. Horizontally I supported on the side'17, near its front end,

' is a gate or guide 53, which is provided with a broken partition 54,to form guide ways 55, for the operating lever 50, which is extendedupwardly through the opening in said gate or guide. Secured on the upperportion of the side 17, below the gate 53, is a rod or bar 56, which hasat its outer end an elongated opening 57, to receive the lever 50, andhas connected to its other end a rod 58, which is united at its rear endto one arm of a bell-crank-lever 59, which is fulcrumed on a cr0ss-piece60, of the -vehicle frame, and has on its other arm prongs 61,

to stride a pin 62, secured on the shaft 43,

near the side 17, of the said. frame.

Mounted on the shaft 43, and near the middle thereof, are two forkedprojections 63, and 64, which as shown are disposed at right angles toone another, that is to say, that when the forked projections 63,occupies a'horizontal position, the forked projection 64, will occupy avertical position. Mounted on the shaft 44, below the projections 63,and 64, are forked projections 65, and 66, which are also disposed at riht angles with one another. point between their ends, the shafts 43, and44, are provided with projections 67 and 68 respectively, which areconnected together by means of a link 69, so that when the upper shaft43, is rocked,the lower one will also be partially rotated.

Horizontally journaled in the lower portion of the casing 24, and inparallelism with one another are-two shafs 70, and 71., on the inner endof each of which is rigidly secured one of, the clutch-yokes 36,

which engage the clutches 31, as before stated. Rigidly secured on theouter por- At a suita letions of each of the shafts 70-, and 71, is

an upright rod 7 2, which are extended upwardly above the shafts 43, and44,at

proper points to be embraced by the forked projections on said shafts aswill be clearly understood by referring to Fig. 2, of the drawings.

Mounted on the inner ends of the sections of the axle 15, within thecasing 23, andbetween the gears 20, and 21, are spur-gears 73, and 74,which mesh with pinions 75, 76, 77, and 78, which pinions are journaledabove and below the axle 15, on suitable shafts having their bearings inthe hub portion of the gear 21, and in a disk 80, secured in the casing23, around one of the sections of the axle. The pinions 76, and 77 meshwith spur-gear 73, while the pinions 7 5, and 78, mesh with thespur-gear 74, thus it will be understood that when the casing 23, isrotated, it will drive the axle, while permitting the differentialmovement thereof, incidental to turning a curve.

From the foregoing and by referenee'to the drawings, it will be readilyunderstood and clearly seen that when the operating lever 50, is in theposition shown in Figs. 1, and 8, of the drawings, the clutches will beout of engagement with tho clutch-faced gears, and the Connecting partsbetween said lever, and clu ches will occupy neutral positions, but Itwill be understood that ,the vertioal rod 72, will be firmly held bymeans of the forked projections on the shafts 43, and -14, so that, bymoving the lever 50, out watdly on the fulcrum rod 51, the shaft 43,through its connections 46, 47, and 49, with the lever, will be rocked,thus releasing the nominee iorlred projection 83, from one of the reels72, and causing the forked projection 64-, thereon to engage the otherrorl when by moving the lever 50, in the direction in one of theguideways 55, there-for of the gate 53, it is apparent that the shaft441-, will he rocked so as to release the forked projectionfifi, from.one of the rods 72, anrl cause the forked projection 65, to engage theother rod '72, ancl at thesaine time the shaft 43, will he moved bymeans of its connections 56, 58, and 59, with the lever 50,longitudinally, thus shifting; one of the clutches into engagement withthe clutchface of the gear, Which imparts the clesirecl speed to therear axle,

In the above named operation, it will be understood that the rod 72,which is enhy the forked projection 65, will be firmly held so that theclutch which said rod operates will he held out of engagement with thegears between which it is locateril. By this arrangement of the parts,it is apparent that either one of the clutches may be thrown intoengagement with any one of the desired, at any time andnon-progressively so that the desired speed may he i1n- "sly obtained.

Journaled on a stub shaft between the axle 15, end the shaft 25, is apinion 19, which meshes With the gears lth anrl 26, and will affordmeans for reversing; the move ment the vehicle.

Having thus fully described my invention What i claim as new and desireto secure by Letters-Patent is 1. The combination With a shaft, ofdifierent sized gears thereon provided with clutch-faces, clutchesmovable on said she-it into and out of engagement with said clutchrespect to the rods on the yokeehafts and connected together, one ofsaid shafts hav ing rotary and longitudinal movement and the other ofsaid shafts having rotary movement, means on said shafts to alternatelyengage the rode on the yokeshefts, ,niea'ns uniting the o icrating-leverand said shafts whereby both of, them may he rocked and one of themmoved longitudinally.

2. The combination With a shaft, of different sized gears thereonprovierl with clutch-faces, clutches movable on said shaftinto and outof engagement with said clutchfaces, a. yokeshai't journalecl near eachof the clutches, a clutchengaging-yoke on one encl and a rod on theother end of each of the yoke-shafts, a suitably fulcruinecloperating-lever, a pair of shafts transversely 'journaled. with respectto the rods on the yoke shafts and one having rotary and longitudinamovement and the other rotary movement, a plurality of forkedprojections mounted on each of said shafts and adopted to engage thesaid-rods, the said projections on each shaft being disposed at angles11. one another, nieansuniting the operatingJeVer and said shaftswhereby they may; be partially rotated and one of them inorerl.v

BENNETT.

